Three teens charged with robbing boys at Evanston beach

Three Evanston teens are facing robbery charges after police said they held up three other local boys Thursday at the Clark Street beach, stealing $10 cash and beating up one of the boys.

Police were called to the beach in the 1800 block of Sheridan Road at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday on report of a robbery there. Three boys, each of them 16 years old and Evanston residents, said they were at the beach when three other teens approached them, Evanston police said in a news release Friday.

One boy said that one of the teens grabbed him and put him in a headlock, then pushed something into the boy's back that the teen said was a gun, according to the release.

The alleged robber then demanded the boy's property, according to the release. The boy gave up $10.

Another boy allegedly robbed in the incident gave up a pocket knife, the release states.

Police said in the release that the third boy tried to run away but one of the alleged robbers chased and tackled him, then punched the boy in the torso. Nothing was stolen from the boy, police said.

Then, the three alleged robbers fled on bicycles. But officers caught up two of them in the 1600 block of Hinman Avenue, and the third was stopped in the 1900 block of Greenbay Road, according to the release.

Police said the suspects are also from Evanston, two of them 17 years old and one 16, and were all positively identified as the robbers in the beach incident, according to the release.

Police arrested the three teens and charged each of them with aggravated robbery, the release states.

The pocket knife was recovered from one of the teens.

Because they are minors, police said no additional information is available.